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2018-04-12 11:10:05

GIS

General Mills

$44.71

-0.16 (-0.36%)

11:10

04/12/18

04/12

11:10

04/12/18

11:10

Aggressive call buying in General Mills

Aggressive call buying in General Mills. The stock off 22c to $44.65 and Jul 52.5 calls trade across the exchanges for 50 to 53c per contract. 3.7K trade at that strike against 1.2K open interest and the contract, which is struck 17.6% above spot, captures one earnings report in late-June. Small lots of Apr 45 puts, Jul 50 calls, and Jul 55 calls also changing hands. Total volume lopsided 5:1 at 5K calls and 1K puts.

GISGeneral Mills

$44.71

-0.16 (-0.36%)

03/23/18

SUSQ

03/23/18UPGRADESUSQPositive

General Mills upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna

03/23/18

JEFF

03/23/18NO CHANGETarget $55JEFFBuy

General Mills selloff yesterday a buying opportunity, says Jefferies

While margin pressures are likely to persist near-term, General Mills management is taking the right steps to address many of the ongoing headwinds, Jefferies analyst Akshay Jagdale tells investors in a post-earnings research note. The analyst remains encouraged by continued improvement in the company's organic sales growth trends. He recommends using yesterday's selloff as a buying opportunity and keeps a Buy rating on General Mills. Jagdale lowered his price target for the shares to $55 from $63.

03/23/18

03/23/18UPGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst upgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Wynn Macau (WYNMF) were upgraded to Buy from Hold at Union Gaming. 2. Cisco (CSCO) upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman Sachs with analyst Rod Hall saying as market volatility increases, Cisco provides a "relatively defensive" name in the sector. 3. General Mills (GIS) upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna. 4. MPLX (MPLX) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight and Dominion Midstream (DM) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. 5. KB Home (KBH) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo with analyst Stephen East saying the shares have fallen 25% since January 11, the worst in the group, while estimates "must rise." This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

Blue Buffalo Pet Products' (BUFF) exposure to PetSmart, which represented 41% of 2017 sales, adds risk that General Mills' (GIS) growth expectations post-deal close may be too optimistic, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Lavery tells investors in a research note. PetSmart's net debt/EBITDA could bring "supplier headaches" similar to what Toys "R" Us has done, the analyst contends. The analyst lowered his fiscal 2019 earnings per share estimate for General Mills to $3.08 from $3.13 to reflect the risk of more modest expected sales growth. He lowered his price target for the shares to $47 from $49 and keeps a Neutral rating on General Mills.